How to improve your life with Goals in Google Calendar

Recently Google added a “Goals” feature to its Calendar app. What does the Goals feature do? Well, it helps you set goals, and not just set goals, but also find time to pursue those goals. You can find time for those goals manually or you can let Google Calendar find time for you.

Here is a nice video that explains how the Goals feature works in Google Calendar:

Are you living your life in the fast lane? Career pressures don’t afford you enough time to pursue goals that really matter to you? You have been thinking of improving your life in an actual perspective rather than being the proverbial rat in the rat race?

Goals can help you improve your life by creating time for things that really matter. For example, if you are never getting time to do exercise, jog, brush up your French, finish reading Moby Dick or call up your mom on a regular basis, the Goals feature in Google Calendar can help you.

The biggest strength of Goals in Google Calendar is that it can automatically adjust the timing for things that can actually help you improve your life. For example, suppose you have scheduled a jog for yourself at 10:30 AM. Suddenly your client wants to have a video chat with you at 10:30 AM. In usual times you would miss your jog but not with Goals in Google Calendar. Using this feature, if you have scheduled a jog for 10:30 AM and if you cannot jog at 10:30 AM, Goals in Google Calendar automatically assigns a new time to the goal so that instead of missing it, you can carry it out some other time.

This is how Goals in Google Calendar can help you improve your life:

Launch your Google Calendar app

Tap the big Plus icon that is usually at the bottom right corner of your screen

Tap on the Goals icon

It brings up the choices of templates such as Exercise, Build a skill, Family & friends, Me time and Organize my life

When you tap on one of the Goals templates, you are presented with a further list from which you can select the activity you would like to pursue or you can also enter your own choice

Once you have chosen the goal you want to pursue, the app asks you how often you would like to carry out the activity – Once a week, Twice a week, 3 times a week, 5 times a week or Every day

After selecting how many times you would like to do the activity, you can assign a timeframe; for how long would you like to carry out the activity?

After selecting the time duration, it will ask you what’s the best time? Is it Morning, Afternoon, Evening, or can you do it at Any time?

You have set yourself a goal in Google Calendar and you’re on your way to improving your life!

As mentioned above, what if you cannot perform a particular activity assigned as a Goal in Google Calendar? The time is automatically moved up and down.

The Goals feature in Google Calendar isn’t much focused at performing something at a particular time; it is more focused at making sure that you don’t miss your goal for the day or for the week no matter at what time you take the needed steps to achieve it.

Amrit Hallan is the founder of TechBakBak.com. He writes about technology not because "he loves to write about technology", he actually believes that it makes the world a better place. On Twitter you can follow him at @amrithallan